A problem that faces the users of wireless handsets is coping with ambient or background noise as they change their physical location. Different physical locations can have varying amounts of background noise. For example, if a user is in a conference room, the user will turn down the ringing volume and the volume of both transmitted and received speech on the wireless handset. When the user leaves the conference room and moves to a manufacturing area, the user may miss calls because they will not hear the ringing. If the user does receive a call, the user then has to adjust the volume controls. This problem is particularly severe for the users of personal communication service (PCS) wireless handsets because PCS wireless handsets are used in confined surroundings where the noise can vary a great deal.